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The First Retirement Model for Career Women

Project Renewment

The First Retirement Model for Career Women

For the first time in history, career women -- women who have worked outside the home for most of their lives -- are retiring. Without role models, they look to one another to face the changes this life transition brings.

Career women from the Baby Boom and pre-Baby Boom, or Silent, generations are approaching retirement. They want to know what it means to suddenly find themselves back inside their homes after having devoted their lives to careers outside of them.

These women are highly skilled, educated and successful.They have achieved visibility, status and influence. And because they are the first large group of American women to define themselves by their work, they have few, if any, models for retirement. Project Renewment will show women that giving up their careers does not mean giving up who they are.

Renewment is a term the authors created as an alternative to the word retirement, which they associated with negative stereotypes and clichés. A combination of retirement and renewal, Renewment suggests optimism and opportunity, growth and self-discovery. Project Renewment is a grassroots movement among women who are close to retirement or recently retired and looking to connect with one another.

The women of Project Renewment believe that retiring is a process of change and increasing self-awareness. As they redirect the commitment and passion previously dedicated to their careers, they transform and reshape their lives. Project Renewment provides these women with an enriched and safe environment in which to explore and confront the challenges that lie ahead as they leave behind a lifetime at the office, hospital, studio or courtroom.

Diverse topics are discussed, such as Who am I without my business card? What if he retires first? What is productivity anyway? Why do I feel guilty reading a book on a Tuesday afternoon? How do I feel about not earning another dollar? Divided into two sections, Project Renewment offers insight and support in a friendly, humorous and meaningful way. The first part of the book addresses the challenges that career women tackle when looking to retire. The second teaches readers how to start and maintain their own Project Renewment group, so they can find support, inspiring relationships and even a few laughs as they look to get the most out of the rest of their lives.

Praise

"Project Renewment is one of those books that becomes a faithful, trusted friend, the imaginary kind who's always there with wise advice and never needs to talk about herself. It's a soulful, pragmatic, delightfully entertaining guide for any woman who plans to keep growing older and intends to enjoy it come hell or high water. I'm rereading it several times in an attempt to impress it upon my subconscious mind before I misplace my copy. Not that my memory is getting patchy or anything. Of course, I'm not nearly old enough to need Project Renewment. I just happen to love it. "

– Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

"Project Renewment is one of those books that becomes a faithful, trusted friend, the imaginary kind who's always there with wise advice and never needs to talk about herself. It's a soulful, pragmatic, delightfully entertaining guide for any woman who plans to keep growing older and intends to enjoy it come hell or high water. I'm rereading it several times in an attempt to impress it upon my subconscious mind before I misplace my copy. Not that my memory is getting patchy or anything. Of course, I'm not nearly old enough to need Project Renewment. I just happen to love it. "

– Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

"Project Renewment is a terrific book. Its cutting-edge approach to retirement for a new generation of career women is based on sound knowledge, a depth of experience and the rich dialogues of highly effective women creating their future. It's also a great read -- fun, informative and hopeful. I was particularly drawn to the essays through the creative illustrations, timely topics and clear writing. "

– Ken Dychtwald,CEO, Age Wave,author of Age Power and The Power Years

"Here is a window on the changes facing career women when they consider retirement. Women are working longer without many models from the past about how to handle the next phase of life. A grassroots effort began in Southern California at meetings held by the authors, where talented, accomplished women discussed alternatives to their work lives and ways of pursuing objectives other than the pursuit of income. These meetings provided the evidence on which the ideas of this book are based. Reading Project Renewment is like getting a 'new set of tires' and driving off in new directions. It results from the wisdom that evolves from considering alternatives to work in the mature years. "

– James E. Birren, professor emeritus, University of Southern California, and former dean of the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center

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